


The List

by IAMS



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bucky Barnes Feels, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstandings, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Steve Feels, Steve and Tony need hugs, Steve is jelly, Tony Feels, behind the scenes panic attack, my beloved children, my ot3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-17 11:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4664808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAMS/pseuds/IAMS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>General shitstorm of misunderstandings and precious boys in love. </p><p>Also Steve is hella jealous. </p><p>And Bucky is hella oblivious. </p><p>And Tony's stuck in the middle somewhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It's been close to six months since Bucky was found, now. In the first two months, Steve and Buck had been inseparable.

  
Wherever Steve went, the former Winter Soldier followed. They shared the same bed, went out for runs together, they ate together, they watched old movies, practically squished together on the love-seat--and it was great. Bucky was slowly but surely adjusting to life again, and Steve had his best friend back.

  
Four months later, Bucky is no longer a limpet. Which is good, Steve should be happy. He should be happy for his friend, and he is, but it's a bittersweet feeling. He misses sleeping nestled up against the brunette and waking up next to him, having those warm brown eyes on him first thing in the morning. And he knows he shouldn't be thinking like that, not about the man he grew up with, but a part of Steve has always been in love with James, even if he still can't admit it out loud.

  
Steve stares (longingly) at Bucky, from across the kitchen table and smiles softly when the ex-soldier pours his milk into the bowl first and then the cereal--it's just a quirky thing Bucky's done since he was a kid, and it's nice to see that those simple habits haven’t changed.

  
"That's heinous, Buck." Steve catches himself frowning at the sound of the billionaires' voice drifting into the room and smooths out the expression on his face.

Bucky looks up. "What?"

"Who pours the milk in before the cereal? That's blasphemous, you know that, right? It's up there with wearing white after labor day." Tony sits down on a stool and then scoots the chair so that it's lush against Bucky's, and their shoulders are touching.

Steve tries not to be mean when he says, "That's a dumb rule, Stark. Leave him alone." but by the twin looks of surprise he receives, he doesn't think he did a very good job of it.

Bucky raises an eyebrow at the blonde and then turns to the shorter man, "That _is_ a dumb rule, Tony." but he says it in a teasing tone, with an easy smile.

Tony shrugs, "Whatever, be weird." and then grabs a spoon and digs into Bucky's bowl, who acts like sharing a meal with Stark is an everyday occurrence, the way he pushes the bowl so that it’s in between them, giving Tony better access.

Steve gets up and leaves his bowl in the sink, his appetite suddenly lacking. 

 

Later that day, Bucky confronts Steve over the 'thing this morning'. "What thing? There wasn't a thing." Steve scowls and tries to find a way to change the subject.

"You practically bit Tony's head off." James frowns, concerned. "What's wrong?"

Steve crosses his arms over his chest. He certainly can't tell him the truth. He can't tell him how crazy jealous he's been for the last three and a half months every time Stark casually puts his hands on Bucky, or how badly he wants to push the man away when he leans against his best friend during movie nights with the team. Because for him to be so jealous, would mean he obviously has feelings for Bucky. Which, yeah, he doesn't really need any kind of speculation on the subject.

Instead, he says "He was making fun of you, Bucky."

"What? No he wasn't. That's just the way he is, Stevie." the brunette sighs, "I don't understand why you two don't get along. He's great if you'd get to know him. Try givin’ him a chance." he ruffles Steve’s hair on his way out and ignores the eye roll. 

 

A little light goes on in Steve's head that night, when he's lying in bed, thinking over the events of the day.

He needs a list. He just knows there has to be a plethora of reasons to dislike Tony Stark. All he needs to do now is make a list of all the reasons why Stark is such an unlikable person in the first place, and then let Bucky see things his way. If his argument is strong enough, he's sure Buck will listen to him and stop hanging out with the older man so much.

He tells himself he's doing this for Bucky's own good and not because he’s jealous. Stark really isn't the great guy his friend thinks he is, and he'll prove it.

 

The next day, he watches Stark like a hawk.

They battle a giant squid monster before noon (it’s always a giant squid monster), and when it’s finally defeated, half of downtown Manhattan is covered in this gnarly yellow goop.

No one’s badly injured in the fight, so Steve starts assigning everyone to different posts, to help the cleaning crew with the mess of the aftermath.

Before he can start ordering anyone anywhere, Tony, who’s out of the suit now, yelps loudly, and hisses when he tries to put his weight down on his left leg. “No can do Captain, think I mighta’ fractured something.” he grimaces and stumbles a little for show, and then points towards the jet. “I’m gonna’ head to medical and have ‘em check me out.”

Steve really wants to call him out, because he’s seen the smaller man on his last legs before, insisting he’s just fine, and ready to continue the fight, so this has got to be bullshit. But if he really is injured, Steve can’t imagine an outright accusation will go over very well with anyone on the team.

Bucky volunteers to help him get to the med bay, to which Steve does _not_ in fact grind his teeth to, but Tony waves him off with a smile, “I want birdbrain to carry me. He should get at least one chance in his life to save the gorgeous damsel in distress.”

Clint grumbles something slightly menacing under his breath but complies easily enough, letting Stark lean some of his weight on him as they head back to the quinjet.

 

When all is said and done, and Steve has showered a number no less than maybe half-a-dozen times to get rid of the stench of the yellow goop, he finds Tony sitting atop the kitchen counter, swinging his legs in front of him like a child, talking a mile a minute with Nat, who’s sharing her hot chocolate with him.

There’s a bandage around Tony’s ankle, but it doesn’t look like anything too serious. They’ve all suffered slight twists and abrasions, and it hadn’t stopped any of them from helping clean the mess they’d inadvertently made. He doesn’t know what Tony thinks makes him so special that he can exempt himself from the rest and skip his duties.

“What’d the doctor say?” Steve gestures with a nod.

“Oh, uh, just a sprain.”

“Uh huh.” The Captain nods. “Well, I'm gonna’ hit the hay. Have a good night Nat.” he leaves before anyone can comment on the dryness of his tone.

As soon as he gets to his room, Steve takes out the yellow legal pad paper he's titled, ‘Reasons No One Likes Tony Stark’ in big block letters, and writes down the first item on his list:

> 1\. Tony Stark is not a team player. He lied and exaggerated an injury to get out of cleaning up his own mess.

Steve’s so excited to finally have some real ammo in his possession, that he nearly runs to Bucky’s suite to show him now, but it’s too soon, and maybe Bucky won’t think it’s such a big deal. He might excuse it as laziness or insist the so-called sprained ankle was severe enough to bench Stark. And then he’s right back to square one, which won't do him any good. 

He puts the list away and goes to sleep, feeling a little guilty over how eagerly he's looking forward to filling up the blank spaces.


	2. Chapter 2

The headlines on the newspapers three days later provide Steve with enough ammo to write down number two on his list:

> 2\. Tony Stark is rude and inconsiderate. Took the attention away from Bruce and Dr. Foster (and their work) at a press conference.

The three scientists are in California right now. The day before, they all attended a press conference to answer questions about a project they've been collaborating on.

And surprise, surprise, Stark's obnoxious behavior towards the press is the only thing that made it into the headlines the very next day.

Steve shakes his head when he looks at the photograph printed at the corner. It's Tony, mouth wide open, probably spewing word-vomit at the press, while Jane and Bruce sit at either side of him. Bruce is sitting there, looking absolutely miserable, and Jane looks beyond annoyed.

He has no idea why on Earth Bucky likes hanging out with the guy.

Steve is startled out of reading the rest of the paper when the trio of scientists stroll into the living room and dump their carry-on luggage on the empty couch beside him.

Jane peers at the newspaper in his hands and laughs. "Tony the menace!" she mock-shouts.

Stark snorts, rolling his eyes. "A force to be reckoned with, yeah."

"Yes you are." Bruce agrees with a half-grin on his face he looks like he's trying to hold back.

Steve wants to shake them. Why are they letting him get away with this? It doesn't make any sense.

\-----

"Tony, you missed the board meeting this morning--I had JARVIS set your alarm and everything!" Pepper moans into her hands.

Tony's sitting in the kitchen, his hair in a disarray, eating a bowl of fruity pebbles, like he hasn't a care in the world. He does admittedly look quiet genuinely sorry when he apologizes. "My bad Pepp. I completely forgot that was today." he grimaces and then offers her a spoonful of soggy cereal to make up for it.

Pepper arches a finely manicured brow and flicks him on the forehead. "The board members were not happy with your absence Tony. Be there next week, on time, or else."

Tony pouts. "That sounds an awful lot like a threat, Potts."

"Mr. Stark, I would never." she gasps and puts a hand to her chest, pretending she's indignant over the accusation. Then she drops the act, smiles softly, and ruffles the messy hair on his head into an even bigger mess. "It's a promise, you punk. Now off to bed with you." she empties his bowl and puts it in the sink, shooing Tony away with one hand.

"Yes ma'am." he salutes, and snickers when she narrows her eyes at him and says, "Don't call me that."

All the while, Steve listens to the back and forth from his spot on the kitchen counter, where he's hydrating after an afternoon run.

When he gets back to his room, he unfolds the list and scribbles down:

> 3\. Tony Stark is irresponsible. He makes Pepper do all of his work at S.I. and doesn't care if he misses important board meetings or causes other people grief in the process.

Steve frowns down at his list and sighs. Why did Pepper let Tony brush off her lecture like that? He's seen the woman in action, she is not a pushover, that's for sure.

He doesn't understand why people keep letting Tony get away with all this asinine behavior, and now that he's paying attention to it, it's really starting to bother him.

\-----

The Avengers attend a gala for a charity event in New York a week later and Tony gets so very drunk.

He spills his drink on a highly decorated sergeant and mumbles something about the dry cleaning bill, although he's slurring his words, so Steve can only guess.

He watches from across the room as Sam is forced to half-carry, half-drag the man out of the open area and to a more secluded place, away from all the prying eyes.

On their way back to the tower later in the night, Tony seems to have sobered up. He's animatedly describing the inner functions of his first A.I., Dum-E, to Sam, who's rapt attention he's managed to grab.

Steve sits in the limo and wonders why Sam's not irritated right now. He had to skip half the damn charity, having to take care of Stark!

"Wanna come say hi? Dum-E and the terrible twins miss ya'." Tony insists, after they're all in the elevator.

"I'm always up for playtime with the kids." Sam agrees, letting himself be lead to the workshop without any fuss, even though it's clear to Steve that Sam looks exhausted.

Probably from having to keep the other man from making an even bigger fool of himself tonight.

Steve huffs in frustration and writes down:

> 4\. Tony Stark is a belligerent drunk. Completely ruined the charity event for Sam and spilled a drink on a respected sergeant.

Steve doesn't even remembering hearing an apology out of Tony, and he finds it hard to believe that Sam is totally okay with that. Instead, he's being all buddy-buddy with the guy.

Steve feels a little petulant in that moment, because the thought, _Sam was my friend first_ , does cross his mind.

It occurs to him that maybe Sam is only being so nice about the whole incident because he doesn't want to upset the person essentially providing housing and all his bare necessities. Maybe that's why Bucky hangs out with Tony so much, too, out of a sense of duty, and nothing else. Hell, it's probably why so many people let Stark get away with the way he acts in general.

Steve frowns, disgusted.

> 5\. Tony Stark is spoiled. Uses entitlements and money to get whatever he wants/get away with bad behavior.

He stuffs the list into his pocket and runs a hand through his hair, huffing out his frustrations. If he were still that scrawny little kid from Brooklyn, he'd have gotten an asthma attack with how riled up he is right now.

Stark can't keep using his friends like this! It has to stop.

Steve braces himself on his desk for another moment before standing straight and stubbornly heading to the workshop to get Sam out of Stark's clutches.

\----

On his way there, he's almost surprised to see Clint and Natasha in Stark's kitchen--the one on his specific floor, that is--and not their own, or the one on the communal floor of the tower. Huh.

They're making sandwiches and arguing over mustard.

Nat sees Steve and gestures towards the pile of sandwiches stacked on plates. "Want?"

"We're goin' to go bother Tony in the workshop and play with Dum-E." Clint adds, grinning. "He let Sam in there, so he's gotta be in one of those moods where he's a-ok with my sticky fingers touchin' all the cool gadgets  he's got down there!" he explains excitedly, when Steve makes a face.

Nat snorts. "The sandwiches are bribery."

"Right," Steve nods. "No thanks." he declines, and then spots the couch sitting in the middle of the kitchen and points to it. "What happened with that?"

Nat shrugs. "I think Bucky was here last night and--" she pauses. "I have no idea why they decided to move the couch in here." she finally says, after realizing she really doesn't.

Steve sighs. "Clint, help me move this thing back to the living room?" It's not that he's not strong enough to move the couch himself, but the door isn't wide enough for him to carry it without having to drag it on the nice wooden floor, and as much as he doesn't like Stark, it doesn't mean he's ok with defacing any of his property.

Nat volunteers herself immediately and ignores Clint when he says "I can do it."

As soon as they set the couch down in the living room, Steve scratches the back of his head and apologizes.

Nat blinks. "What?"

"About uh, asking Clint." Steve clarifies, "And not you. It's not because you're a woman, he was just closer. I know you're very capable and I didn't mean to--" he got a lot of sensitivity training after calling Maria Hill a dame that one time.

Natasha smirks. "No apologies needed. I didn't help you move the couch to prove the obvious." then she turns serious. "Clint's stitches are still pretty tender, even if he won't admit it. He needs rest, not more manual labor."

"What stitches?"

The redhead narrows her eyes. "You don't know?" she'd thought the Captain had just momentarily forgotten Clint's injuries when he'd asked the archer for help, not that he didn't know at all. She sighs and shakes her head. "Remember last week? Goo-squid?"

Steve nods.

"Damn thing managed to swipe him on the side. He hid it really well, admittedly, so I'm not surprised you don't know, in hindsight." she says, almost to herself. "Hell, I didn't notice the injury either. It was Tony who tricked him into going to medbay." she shrugs. "By faking that not-so-fake busted ankle."

It's almost comical, the way Steves eyebrows go all the way up on his forehead. "You said 'not-so-fake'?"

Natasha adjusts the couch one last time. "Uh huh. Coulson told me that as soon as Tony made Clint get the wound stitched up, he tried to get to his armor so he could leave to help us out with the goo but a nurse noticed him limping pretty bad, and had him admitted too." she chuckles. "Two birds, one stone."

Steve feels the list burning a hole in the back of his pocket and swallows hard. "Oh, I see. That's good." he feels his resolve soften a little before he remembers what he came down here to do in the first place.

\----

He gets to the workshop, ready to yell at Stark and get his friend out of there, only to be shushed before he can even make a sound. "I've got sleeping beauty over here." Tony says, motioning to a sound asleep Sam on the old couch he likes to keep in the 'shop whenever he's too tired to get upstairs and use his real bed.

"That can't be comfortable." Steve says, scowling. "I'm taking him to his room."

Tony puts his hands up in a 'I surrender' pose and then shrugs. "Be my guest." Dum-E rolls over and makes a sad little whirring noise. "I know, I know, but Sam will be back to play again soon. He needs his sleep." Tony assures the robot, and Steve stands there for a moment too long, staring at the man. He sounds almost nice--certainly less arrogant than his usual self, at least.

Steve shakes himself out of those thoughts and very gently picks up his friend, bridal style, and then has the elevator take him to Sam's floor.

\-----

Sam stirs awake once he's on his bed. "Tony?"

Steve tries to keep a frown from his face. "No Sam, it's me." he sits at the edge of the bed and gives his friend a look. "You don't have to let him get away with acting the way he did tonight, you know."

Sam rubs his eye with one hand and props himself up with the other arm. "Say what?"

Steve sighs. "Stark, I mean. He made a mess of things for you at the gala and you don't have to be okay with it. What he did wasn't alright."

"Woah woah woah, Cap," Sam looks wide awake now. "Ironbutt didn't do anything wrong tonight." he says, and then holds up a finger when it looks like he might get interrupted. "If anything he did bothered me in any way, you can bet I'd say something to him about it, man. But really, he didn't."

Sam looks down, "I was talking to that guy, the sergeant, and he kept following me around the place, telling me all these 'fun' war stories, and I didn't feel comfortable. Everything he said was hitting a little too close to home, if ya' know what I mean.

But this guy? Like a dog with a bone, he wouldn't take no for an answer, just kept hounding me with these stories, laughing it off everytime I tried to change the subject or leave the conversation." Sam sighs, "I didn't want to make a scene. I'm the new guy, galas aren't really my forte, but I know telling a highly decorated sergeant to shove it and leave me the hell alone already isn't something I could do without drawing attention to myself.

And then here comes Tony, stumbling," Sam smirks, "He puts an arm around me, and he's slurring his words and cajoling me into joining him on the balcony and away from mister I-love-violence, but the sergeant starts insisting on coming with us, so Tony turns around and says something like 'oh yeah, the more the merrier', and just splashes the dude's suit in vodka and orange juice.

Soon as the guy was distracted, Tony dragged me off to a corridor where I could freak out in private." Sam shrugs, "I had a panic attack, but Tony helped me through it, and then he let me play with his robots down in the lab. I don't know why, both those little bumbling bots always help me calm down."

Steve's eyes go wide. "Jesus Sam, are you okay? I'm sorry you had to deal with that guy."

Sam nods, "I am now, yeah."

"I'm glad." Steve wishes he'd noticed the sergeant's hostile behavior, and is ashamed to say the only reason it escaped his notice was being so laser focused on Stark the whole night. It's probably also why he didn't notice Clint's injury at the time, either. Christ, he's team leader, how had he dropped so many balls?

He stays the rest of the night with Sam and they watch Pixar movies in the living room until morning comes.

\----

The next day Steve glares at his list and realizes he might have to reevaluate everything he's supposedly learned about Ironman in the last two weeks. 


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm pretty sure Capsicle hates me."

Bucky pinches Tony's side. "Name calling isn't helping."

Tony squirms on the ex-soldiers lap and grins. "I know, I know. But seriously, I think he's gonna' try poisoning my coffee soon, the way he's been staring at me lately."

"So stop with the caffeine addiction?" Bucky wraps his arms around the smaller man's waist and pulls him in closer. "I just want you two to--I don't know? Is getting along too much to ask? Maybe just be civil-like towards each other when you're in the same room, huh?"

Tony hides his face in the crook between Bucky's neck and shoulder and mumbles, "No, no, you're right. I'll try harder. Promise." It's not like he wants to be enemies with his boyfriends' best friend, but he and Steve didn't exactly get off on the right foot. It's why when Bucky and Tony started dating only barely a month ago now, Bucky asked him to keep it a secret from everyone else, until he felt he was ready to open up.

Tony knows a big part of that is because he's afraid of how Steve might react to the news. Steve isn't just his best friend since childhood, but the only connection he has to his past life. Tony won't say it out loud, but he knows that if Bucky had to choose between dating him and keeping his best friend happy, there'd be no competition. Tony would be left floating in the wind.

So for the sake of their budding relationship, Tony is going to try his damnest to get along with the Captain.

\----

It's not that Tony doesn't like Steve Rogers.

They're both just very different people.

Tony realizes, as he's trying to come up with ways the two of them might relate to one another, that he does actually want to be friends with Steve, and not just because the man is his boyfriends best friend.

Steve is clever and stubborn, he's got an unexpectedly dry humor that Tony finds endlessly amusing, and for all that Tony complains, Rogers is the kind of leader he knows he'd probably follow to the ends of the earth if that's what was asked of him.

The next time Steve is stretching in the kitchen at ass-o-clock in the AM, Tony leaps at the chance for some quality bonding time. "Morning Cap." he sits on the edge of the counter and swings his legs.

"We eat on that." Steve says dismissively, touching his toes without bending his knees.

Tony hops off the counter, "My bad. So, running, huh?"

"That goes without saying."

Tony clears his throat, "Mind if I join ya'?"

Steve finally looks up, surprise written clear across his face. "If you can keep up." he says after a moment.

\----

Tony is fit. He is, really. He's an engineer, he works with heavy equipment all the time, he works out regularly, and spars with Natasha (okay, he mostly gets his ass kicked, but it counts as exercise).

But no one--besides Bucky--can "keep up" with Steve Rogers.

Tony's been jogging for what feels like forever, now, while the Captain runs literal circles around him. He can officially sympathize with Sam.

Every time Steve passes him (and that's been a lot), Tony will try to start a conversation, only to end up talking all by himself two seconds later.

Tony realizes after several minutes of nothing but his own harsh breathing, that he's alone. The Cap should have passed him by now.

That is, of course, when he makes the horrible mistake of looking back over his shoulder to check. And because he's not running facing forward, he doesn't see the branch of a tree in his path until it's too late and then his face is meeting concrete, hard.

Tony slowly sits up and groans, holding the side of his aching face. Ouch. Pepper is going to kill him tomorrow, when he comes into the board meeting looking like he tried and failed to ride his first bicycle without training wheels.

"Tony!" Steve skids to a halt beside him and bends over to take a look at the bruise that is now Tony's face. "What happened?"

"A tree sent its children to attack me." Tony whines.

Steve narrows his eyes. "You sure it wasn't the ground that done it?" he deadpans.

Tony snickers and then winces when it pulls on the cut above his lip. "Help me up funnyman."

Steve complies easily enough and then gives the smaller man a once over. "Anything else hurt?"

"Besides my ego? Nah." Tony rubs the side of his arm and grimaces. "Just scrapes, I'm fine."

"Let's head back." Steve decides. "You can put some ice on that."

They walk at a leisurely pace now, and Tony decides this is probably his best chance to try to talk to the guy. "Want to watch a movie when we get home?" it's really the only thing he can think to do that doesn't require too much speaking but does require them to be in the same room alone with each other for longer than ten minutes. Tony thinks it's a good start.

Steve looks at Tony, "Shouldn't you be getting ready for that board meeting you've got tomorrow?"

Tony's surprised Steve even cares enough to know his schedule, but then, he is team leader, Tony's pretty sure he keeps track of all of the team throughout the week. "No, not really. They just want me to sit there and give nods of approval every now and then, even though Pepper's the one really in charge.

I skipped the last one hoping they'd take their heads out of their asses and finally realize Pepper's running shit. But they're a bunch of old farts, so they're still stuck in the old-age concept that only men can do business." Tony huffs in frustration. "Last month one of them tried to get Pepp to get him some coffee! We have tiny baby interns for that! Pepper is the goddamn CEO of the company!" he pauses when he realizes he went off on a tangent. "Sorry, it just really bothers me that they don't give her the respect she deserves. She works harder than anyone I know."

"No, no, that's alright. I agree." Steve nods. "And yes."

Tony tilts his head. "Yes?"

"To the movie." Steve reminds him.

"Oh! Yes? Nice, okay," Tony grins. "Anything in particular you'd like to watch? Or you wanna' let JARVIS pick? He's got great taste in films."

"Whatever is fine with me."

\----

Steve barely watches the movie. He's mostly stuck on the fact that three out of five things on his list are based on lies he'd preconceived based off on-the-surface observations.

The only thing he's got left on Tony is that he's rude and inconsiderate, over what he did to Bruce and Jane last week. And maybe the last thing on his list, too. That Tony uses money to get away with things--but even that's starting to seem less and less likely.

Steve's so deep in his thoughts that it takes him a moment to notice Tony's fallen asleep. He's curled up on the couch next to him, passed out when Bucky walks into the room.

"Shit, what the hell happened to his face?" Steve watches Bucky lean down in front of the man and brush one hand over the bruising on the side of Tony's face.

The overwhelming pang of jealousy Steve feels makes him want to leave the room immediately. But he forces himself to sit there and explain what happened.

Bucky chuckles. "Talk about clumsy. Can't wait to tell Sam--at least he never tripped trying to outrun you. So what're you two watching?"

Steve looks at the screen. "I don't really know. Tony said it's Will Smith and aliens, but I wasn't really paying that much attention, to be honest."

Bucky hmms and then sits on Tony's other side, moving Tony a little so that his  head drops down on his shoulder while he sleeps. "JARVIS, can you start the movie over?"

And they sit there, with Tony sandwiched between them, and watch the film, occasionally pausing to comment or make fun of the aliens.

Steve enjoys the easy banter between them, and only wishes a certain someone wasn't between them at the moment.

When the movie is almost over, Steve turns to Bucky and says, going for casual, "I think they filmed that press conference Tony, Bruce and Jane went to last time. Want to watch that?"

Bucky looks at him oddly but nods, "Sure, it's when they went to Cali, right?"

Steve nods and has JARVIS play them the clip. He knows he should feel bad about this last ditch effort to showcase the sleeping man to his right in a bad light, but he just really wants Bucky to stop letting Tony take so many liberties with him. And if he has to do it this way, so be it. He's almost excited to see Tony start badmouthing the press and ruining the conference for Bruce and Jane, and that, he definitely feels bad about.

Except Steve should have done his research and watched the online version, and not just taken for word what he read in the paper.

The press conference seems to be going okay for about ten whole minutes, until one reporter puts the limelight on Bruce. He's using words like "failed experiment" and "menace" and sneering at the way Bruce hunches his shoulders and stutters his words, and then Tony is there, diverting the media circus onto himself, with Jane glaring at the journalist in annoyance, and that--Steve realizes--is the moment the photo on the newspaper was snapped. Everything had just been taken severely out of context. Tony wasn't trying to be an attention hog, he was trying to take the attention off of Bruce.

"What a fucking asshole, to just spring something totally unrelated up like that." Bucky scowls. "The conference was about a project they've been working on, wasn't it?"

Steve nods, "Yeah."

Bucky shakes his head. "Good thing this loud-mouth's been dealing with the press long enough to handle the situation. Anyway, I'm gonna' take him to bed--pretty sure he was up all night in the workshop again. Wanna go grab something to eat when I get back?"

"Yeah, yeah, sounds good." Steve says absently.

\----

That's it. Steve's list is officially all lies.

Jealousy has turned him ugly, and he hates it.

It's so obvious Bucky likes Tony--and why shouldn't he? All this experience has taught Steve is that Tony Stark isn't anywhere near as bad as the media makes him out to look, and certainly not as bad as Steve had thought after first impressions. He's kind and loyal and attentive. Tony's good for Bucky.

Not like Steve, who can't even admit to himself out loud how in love he is, much less tell Bucky about how he feels.

\----

The next morning Steve finds Bruce holding a pack of ice to Tony's forehead and lecturing him on the woes of not taking care of an injury properly. "You should've come to see me yesterday, Tony, did you even put alcohol on these?" he asks, referring to all the little scratches on the side of his face.

Tony rolls his eyes but lets the other man fuss over him.

Steve puts some bread into the toaster and says good morning, before nodding to Tony, "Feeling okay?"

Tony gulps down all of his coffee and nods, "Yeah, gotta run guys, meeting in," Tony looks at his watch and frowns. "Shit, I'm gonna be late!" He groans.

"Were you up in the lab all night again?" Bruce asks.

"No, the opposite. I had a headache so I took something for the pain and knocked out. Guess it worked a little too well." he grimaces. "Ugh, traffic's a bitch this early in the morning, and Pepper said I'm not allowed to take the suit to work anymore." he pouts.

"I can take you on my bike." Steve surprises himself, by offering.

"Oh, uh, if you're sure." Tony nods and gratefully accepts.

\----

Steve learns that although the man has a couple of motorcycles he enjoys working on in his workshop, Tony has never actually ridden on one before today.

His arms are wrapped around Steve's midsection, ironclad tight. "It's not that I wanna' be late for this meeting, I just don't wanna' die!" He yells into the air, his helmet muffling his words, but Steve hears him just fine.

And okay, admittedly, Steve is driving just a little faster than he has to. And yes, he takes a perverse kind of pleasure from the fear in Tony's voice. But....ok, there is no but. He's jealous of Tony and that jealousy's only grown worse after finding out Tony isn't a deplorable character after all.

"Here you are." Steve smiles innocently after parking in front of the building.

The smile he's wearing drops the second Tony wobbles off the bike, takes off the helmet and throws up into the nearest open trash. "Sorry," he breathes, after he's done. "Guess motorcycles aren't really my thing. Thanks for the ride though!" he waves on his way into the building before disappearing.

Steve waves back weakly and stands there for a good fifteen minutes feeling awful about what he just did.

Is he no better than the bullies he used to stick it to?

\----

A week later Bucky and Steve are eating their weight in pizza at their favorite parlor when Bucky stops shoving cheese and pepperoni into his mouth long enough to say something. "Hey, I got somethin' to tell you."

Steve stops too. "What's that?"

Bucky looks nervous for a minute before looking him straight in the eye. "I'm seeing someone."

Steve wishes he hadn't eaten all that pizza, because now his stomach is heavy as lead. "Oh?" he manages.

"Yeah," Bucky twiddles his thumbs. "It's Tony."

It's not a big shock at all, because Steve's been waiting for it. But he hates it. Hates the way it makes him feel, because damn it, he wants to congratulate him and just be happy that his friend is happy, but he can't.

Instead he nods and says, "Right, I'm not really that hungry anymore." Steve leaves a bill on the counter and walks out of the parlor without so much as looking at the other man.

Bucky runs after the blonde, "Whoa, hey, Steve! Stevie, c'mon, slow down, let's talk."

"I don't want to talk right now."

"Why not?"

Steve stops and turns around to face him in the middle of the street. "You know how I feel about Stark!" he half-yells.

Bucky scowls. "I thought you two had been getting along lately. What the hell happened?"

"Nothing happened. I was just tolerating the guy because he's a part of the team, Buck, that's it."

Bucky makes a noise out of frustration. "Stevie I really like Tony, a lot. Is that seriously gonna' be a problem for you?" he hesitates, “Is this going to be a problem between us?” and he looks devastated over the possibility that their friendship might suffer for it.

Steve clenches his fists. He could say yes, he could lie and tell him Tony doesn't deserve Bucky, and that he won't talk to him until he comes to his senses. But in the end, it's too cruel and even the overwhelming jealousy he feels won't let Steve dangle their friendship in his face to win some ridiculous sort of ultimatum game.

"No," He says, "No, it won't. Look, I guess I just need some time to wrap my head around it. I know Tony's not a bad guy, I just, I want you to be happy." he takes a deep breath. "Are you happy with him, Buck?"

Bucky nods firmly. "I am, Stevie, honest."

"Then, that's all I need to know." Steve smiles halfheartedly and doesn't think about the words he's too afraid to say.

 _But_ I _love you, Bucky._

It doesn't matter anyway. He's too late.

 **  
**  


**Author's Note:**

> this will be updated weekly.


End file.
